


brick by boring brick

by kanyewesevans



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25104571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanyewesevans/pseuds/kanyewesevans
Summary: The sun shone brightly into the room, it's what most people would see as a nice day. Just warm enough to not need a jacket but not super hot. He hates it.
Relationships: Hakaze Kaoru/Sakuma Rei
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	brick by boring brick

**Author's Note:**

> rei and eichi room together huh?

Despite his grievances with the false emperor, rooming with Eichi was not as bad as Rei originally thought it'd be. They have their spats here and there, but for the most part they can find themselves monologuing easily with each other (at the expense of their third roommate, unfortunately for him). And at the end of the day, they are able to avoid each other if they so wish by leaving the room during the day.

There are days, however, where Rei wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, finding himself angry at just the concept of having to wake up. He woke up slow, turning to try and just go back to sleep, only for Aira to point out that it's currently 3 in the afternoon when he noticed Rei was up. He hated that the boy was right and though he  _ really _ wanted to go back to sleep, he still pushed himself to sit up and get out of bed. This is a day he's not too thrilled at the idea of existing in the world, he realizes very quickly and groans, starting to rub his eyes.

The sun shone brightly into the room, it's what most people would see as a nice day. Just warm enough to not need a jacket but not super hot. He hates it. It really makes him just want to go back to sleep until the sun sets, but he really shouldn't wreck his sleep like that, simply sleeping until 3pm was bad enough as it was. He enters the bathroom to do his "morning" routine and leaves to find Eichi has returned from wherever he was and Rei immediately notes just  _ how _ unhappy he is today when he feels himself get angry at the mere sight of the man.

"My, Sakuma-san, you slept very well today! I was wondering when you'd wake." Eichi is polite, as always, and Rei just gets angrier. He says nothing out of the ordinary, anyone else saying this to him today wouldn't make him react so vehemently, but unfortunately, Eichi has gotten caught up in Rei's anger. He moves to gather some of his things, he needs to leave the room today. "Ohhh the room has gotten quite cold all of a sudden! Are you doing alright, Sakuma-san?" Usually it's not like this, usually Rei can send a quip back at him, but he restrains himself. He  _ really _ doesn't want to talk to Eichi today. He collects a small bag with what he needs to work on today as well as his phone and water bottle.

"I'm heading out for today." Is all he lets himself say as he walks out. He hears a goodbye from Aira and a confused 'oh' from Eichi as the dorm door closes behind him. The one thing he immediately realizes he forgot is his umbrella...meaning he can't leave Seisou Hall. He really could just go back in and grab his umbrella, but he already stormed out and he can only imagine the laughs his roommates could get from that and that does  _ not _ help his mental state. He sighs, that's fine. He needs food, he'll just hang out in the kitchen area. Totally fine!

He enters the kitchen and of course there's like no one here, this isn't exactly a meal time, it almost is, so he expects it to be busy soon, but right now it's quiet. He sits down at a table away from the two who are also here. He believes they're from Aira's unit, he offers them a small wave but secludes himself quickly. He'll eat in a bit, he wants to try working a bit on this song he had in mind.

* * *

Rei opens his eyes slowly, head resting in his arms on the table. The sun is starting to set and he feels the nudging that woke him stop. He notices a presence near him, then he focuses in on the face leaning down to be eye level. "Kaoru..."

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty." Kaoru chuckles, standing straight again. "I'm sure your bed is more comfy than a table, what's up?" He holds two bowls of food and it takes Rei a moment to figure out what the food is in his sleep-addled mind. Some...udon and some type of meat. His stomach growls at the sight. Kaoru smiles, setting a bowl close to Rei and taking a seat across from him. "Figured you would be hungry when you woke up so I decided to make dinner for both of us."

Rei sits up, stretching his arms out, grunting and staying in one pose for a minute before relaxing. "Thank you Kaoru." He pushes his papers to the side, pencil currently missing but he'll deal with that later. He slides the bowl in front of himself.

"Not a problem. Why are you sleeping out here? You ignored my question." Kaoru starts eating, an arm on the table to rest his head on his palm while he eats.

Rei stared at his food, slowly moving to grab the provided chopsticks. "I needed to distance myself from my roommates." He breaks the chopsticks apart, starting to eat as well.

Kaoru nods, going quiet, letting the two of them eat in silence. There's more people in the kitchen area now, and the sound of chatter is starting to become aggravating. Rei's hand shakes, noodles falling from his chopsticks. His brows furrow and he scowls as he goes back to the bowl to grab them again. Kaoru follows his actions with his eyes, ah. "Bad mood today?" Rei nods. "I'm sorry about that."

"What time is it?"

Kaoru shuffles a little, pulling his phone from his pocket. "It's like, almost 6." He puts his phone away, going back to his food.

Rei hums. He was out for a few hours at least...He doesn't remember doing too much work on the song and from the papers he can confirm he only added a few things instead of everything he wanted. It must've been the sun shining in that caused his blackout...He eats slowly, body still too tired to work any faster. He's so tired today. "What did you do today?" He wants conversation, anything to distract from the noise of the others in the room and his growing impatience at just the action of eating.

"Me?" Kaoru swallows, then leans back. "I made a trip to the beach since it was so nice out, took Kanata-kun with me. No surfing but the water was nice to swim in~"

Rei smiles a little. He kind of wishes he could've gone with them, but he also knows that he would've been stuck under an umbrella all day and just weak in general. He picks at his food, at least half-eaten, but he's already full. "Sounds nice."

"Yes~! When I finally got Kanata-kun away from the water, we went shopping for a bit. I got something for you but I left it in my room." Kaoru averts his gaze from Rei, going back to his food to finish. Rei perks up a bit, a gift? Kaoru smiles again, looking back over. "That got your attention, haha. Don't tell the kids though, I didn't uh...get them anything."

"Awww, I'm special enough to not be lumped into group gift buying?" Rei grins, about to set his chopsticks down when Kaoru reaches his own out to stop Rei's movements.

"Uh-uh, eat a little more or else you won't get your gift."

Rei frowns. "I'm full."

"When was the last time you ate?" Rei pauses, looking down at the remaining noodles in his bowl, the meat all gone at this point. When was the last time he ate? Yesterday at some point, surely. "That's what I thought, so eat just a bit more. This is probably why you're in a bad mood."

He's right, probably.

Rei's pencil is not found, a shame really, but it's just a pencil at the end of the day. It wasn't even a good one.

* * *

Kaoru's room is near Rei's room, not too far but not close enough. Kaoru doesn't bother brushing the leaning vampire away as they walk to his room, hand in hand. Rei wishes he could've roomed with at least  _ one _ of his unitmates, but he's not sure anyone actually rooms with their unit (unless you're Madara who is his own unit, Rei supposes). It's kind of frustrating to be honest, but it's not like they've ever lived together before so it's not like it's any different than what they're used to. Maybe it's just his frustration from today that's got him thinking about it.

What Rei really wants though is to move out, but living on his own scares him just a bit. Perhaps it's the fear of something bad with his health happening to him? Perhaps it's the fear of loneliness? He could ask Kaoru to move in with him- or perhaps Koga? No, he'd be too much of a burden on Koga while the boy's still in high school. Kaoru's already dealt with him on their travels so maybe...?

He feels Kaoru let go of his hand and realizes they've already made it into his room, his roommates not in here. Kaoru digs around in a bag near his bed and pulls out a necklace with a little bat hanging on at the end. He turns back around coming up to Rei again. "Saw it and thought of you~" He smiles.

Rei takes the necklace carefully, looking it over. It's such a simple gesture but the bat on this is so cute...

"Whoa- hey, you alright?" Kaoru frets and Rei looks up, taking notice that he himself is crying. Oh great. It comes out a lot all at once and he feels his hands tense up around the necklace. Kaoru takes one hand and leads him to sit down. "Let it out, it's fine." Rei just nods, setting the necklace in his lap to cover his eyes with his now free hands.

It's quiet aside from Rei's small whimpers, Kaoru rubbing the vampire's back slowly, neither person speaking. It lasts like this for a few minutes, then Rei lets his hands drop and leans fully against Kaoru. Kaoru wasn't quite prepared for the sudden weight and nearly falls back, but catches himself just in time.

"You alright?" Kaoru asks again and Rei nods.

"I apologize for that...I think I needed that." Rei's quiet, his breath still hitching as he tries to calm down. Kaoru nods this time, his hand moving upwards to hold Rei's head.

"It's no problem, you looked like you needed that." He chuckles a bit. "Feeling any better?"

Rei nodded again, glancing down to the necklace. "I'm tired."

Kaoru hummed, taking the necklace out of Rei's lap and setting it back in the bag. "Want to stay here for the night? I'm sure my roommates won't mind." Rei nodded almost immediately. "Alright, I'll go run to your room to grab you some pajamas-" He started to get up when Rei took his hand. "Hm?"

"Stay...I'm already in sleep clothes." He starts to yawn, expecting a small one but it lasts much longer than intended. Kaoru furrows his brow, but smiles back in fondness.

"Alright...if you say so." Kaoru still stands up. "You'll have to excuse me for a minute though, as I am not in clothes I'd like to sleep in." Rei frowns, but lets go of him. Kaoru laughs. "Alright, I'll be back in a second then."

Kaoru digs through his clothes, grabbing some combination and running off to change. Rei watches him leave, then collapses onto the bed. It's the same as his bed, but somehow feels comfier. His eyelids feel so heavy...but he pulls himself up to Kaoru's pillows before he even lets himself get comfy enough to sleep. He situates himself closer to the wall, pulling one of Kaoru's pillows over so he can rest his head on it. It smells like him, which just adds to how much he prefers this bed to his own. Kaoru comes back in, dressed in a different pair of shorts and a different shirt. Rei doesn't get it, that's exactly what he wore earlier but with a different aesthetic.

"I'm gonna warn you though, it's only been like an hour since we started eating, I am nowhere near tired right now." Kaoru came over to the bed, sitting down with phone in hand.

"That's fine, I just wish to be with you while I fall asleep." Rei reached over towards Kaoru, trying to draw him in. Kaoru moved closer, letting Rei wrap his arms around him and pull him to lay down. "Mmm, thank you Kaoru." Kaoru placed a hand over Rei's and Rei buried his head into Kaoru's neck, taking a deep breath. He still smelled like the beach and a little bit like Kanata. His eyes drifted shut easily.

He's on the verge of sleep when he remembers his thoughts from before his meltdown and he forces himself to open his eyes and shift to speak. "Kaoru...?"

Kaoru looked over, a little shocked to see him still awake. "Yeah?"

"Was thinkin'...Maybe if you're interested..." He yawns, shifting again so his head is comfortable. "Would you be interested in moving in together somewhere?" Kaoru looks shocked still, watching Rei. Was that a weird question? He guesses it was kind of unprompted. "You can say no."

"Hm." Kaoru responds, looking back at his phone. "Let me think about it, you should sleep."

A “thinking about it” response, he'll take it. "Mhm...Goodnight Kaoru, sleep well when you do..." He closes his eyes again, letting sleep take him finally. Tomorrow he'll be in a better mood, hopefully.

**Author's Note:**

> this one came out of the left field after it was revealed that eichi and rei room together. and then i just kinda combined that with another idea i had in mind that had no real substance other than the concept and i made this  
> find me @kanyewesevans/@makahatsune on twitter!


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